EU-Korea

In May 2007, the European Union and South Korea started negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement. It took effect on 1 July 2011.

This deal is part of the EU’s post-2006 "Global Europe" strategy to boost the competitiveness of EU corporations in the world by securing deeper commitments to neoliberal policies from trading partners, including expanded rights for European transnationals. In Korea, the European Union is trying to win equal, if not better, footing against US firms after the conclusion of the US-Korea FTA. (The EU makes stronger demands than the US on Korea in the areas of intellectual property, services, competition policy and environmental standards.)

Social movements from both sides mobilised against the deal’s potential impacts. One flashpoint of concern is for Korea’s agricultural sector, where pig farmers in particular are expected to suffer from an influx of subsidised EU pork as a result of this deal.

last update: May 2012

Read more

Read less

Articles

The European Union’s presidency said the 27-nation bloc has agreed to sign a free trade deal with South Korea after overcoming objections from Italy, which feared the pact would hurt its ailing auto industry, according to Yonhap news agency on Thursday.

European Union ministers meeting on Monday gave Italy until Thursday to decide whether it wants to confirm its veto on a free-trade agreement with South Korea, diplomats told the German Press Agency dpa.

The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council yesterday decided to rediscuss the approval of a free trade pact with Korea on Monday, and the 27-member bloc hopes to sign the pact in early October, the minister presiding over the council meeting said.

Italy will veto a free-trade deal between the European Union and South Korea unless changes are made or the implementation of the agreement is pushed back a year, the junior minister for foreign trade warned on Tuesday.

In the next few months European Union governments will have to decide whether to ratify a free-trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea that is described by the EU’s external-trade directorate as “one of the most ambitious and complete deals” it has ever signed.

On April 23, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (EUROFER) released a statement expressing its concerns regarding the possible distortive effects of the negotiated market access conditions under the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the European automotive market, which is the main customer base of the European steel industry.

Korea will maintain 2 million tons of milk production annually to help the local dairy industry deal with an influx of imports once a free trade pact with the European Union (EU) goes into effect, the government said yesterday.

Links

The EU-Korea FTA Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) is intended to produce studies in order to provide a deeper understanding of the sustainability impacts of the trade and investment aspects of the Free Trade Agreement and of the mechanisms through which they might affect both the EU and Korea.

1-Dec-2017ITUC

The ITUC General Council adopted an emergency resolution strongly condemning Argentina’s decision to deny accreditation to more than 60 civil society representatives to the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference.

bilaterals.org is a collaborative space to share information and support movements struggling against bilateral trade and investment deals which serve corporations, not people. Multilingual. Global. No one owns it. Open publishing. Get involved.